Jeju Air aiming for USD16m operating profit in 2013 as focus turns to sustainable growth

Jeju Air, releasing its 2013 business plan, said it plans to "reinforce the fundamentals for sustainable growth" in 2013, according to a Joongang report. The LCC, controlled by Aekyung Group, added: “We will focus on our core abilities, polish our brand image and upgrade our competitiveness to become a global airline.” The airline said it hopes to reach KRW480 billion (USD439 million) in sales for 2013, a 40% year-on-year increase from 2012 estimates, with plans for a KRW17 billion (USD15.5 million) operating profit. To achieve its goal, Jeju Air plans to expand services to Chinawith three or four additional Chinese cities by no later than Mar-2013 operated as irregular services as the two nations have yet to reach a full open skies agreement. The carrier will also expand in Japan and southeast Asia, with the addition of two additional aircraft in 2013. It aims to serve 4.95 million passengers in 2013, up from 3.82 million in 2012.

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On 28-Nov-2016 airBaltic took delivery of the world's first Bombardier CS300 for commercial service, which will begin on 14-Dec-2016 with a flight from Riga to Amsterdam. It will receive a further 19 of the aircraft variant by 2019.

Just five years ago airBaltic was heavily loss-making and close to bankruptcy. Under CEO Martin Gauss Latvia's national airline has negotiated a successful restructuring programme, established a track record of growing profits, secured a private investor alongside the national government, made significant load factor gains, and is now returning to capacity growth.

The new CSeries order should allow airBaltic to build on these achievements by replacing its ageing Boeing 737s with one of the most modern and efficient narrowbodies aircraft in the world, while also providing additional growth capacity. Together with its Dash-8 turboprop aircraft this purchase should give it a fleet well adapted to the niche needs of a hybrid regional hub airline based in northern Europe's smaller markets.